Every year there seems to be an influx in questions, confusion, and concern with certain school policies. This year at Roosevelt, we’ve taken a new bell schedule that continues befuddling students at Roosevelt. But how does the math really work out?
Many students agree that our bell schedule seems “stupid” or “unnecessarily complicated”(says an anonymous student and Alexa Vazquez) but, if you look closely, there is a method to the madness.
In Oregon High Schools, students are required to have a minimum of 966 (12th) or 990 (9-11th) hours of instructional time for at least 92% of students within a district and 80% of students within a school (OAR 581-022-2320).
In the 2024-2025 school year there were roughly 176 school days in Portland Public Schools. At Roosevelt the typical school day is 6 hours and 13 minutes of dedicated instructional time. Therefore, we had no more than 1,094 hours and 8 minutes of dedicated instructional time last school year. According to attendance information I received from Kim Castle, a data analyst at Roosevelt, our Average Daily Attendance (ADA) is around 89%. This is generally good and means most students are in class for the time they need to be.
I also spoke with Kim to seek greater information around whether or not we meet these legal time requirements. She informed me that the admin keep very tight reins on logging class time throughout the year. “I believe the purpose of that is so that we don’t short change kids”. She explained to me that schools in our district all follow a common bell schedule and requirements for flex days, assembly days, and snow days to ensure each student and teacher are given the instructional time they are promised.
Our bell schedule has so many moving pieces and things that the district and state have to look at when they decide the common schedules. Educator salary, yearly budget, and student attended hours play important roles. Looking at these pieces of the puzzle might not account for why we need those extra 4 minutes, but in my opinion, they provide great context for the reasoning behind our school bell schedule.
